MS Remedies Details

What does the government want to do to Microsoft besides break it up? You can take a look at the DOJ's proposed final judgment in several formats (HTML, PDF, and WordPerfect 5.1), but a close reading will show you that the government doesn't want to wait until the company is broken up to start remedying Microsoft's alleged monopolistic behavior.

Wired's Declan McCullagh has published his impressions and summary of the document, and correctly notes that Mr. Gates will be even unhappier with the DOJ's interim proposals for controlling Microsoft. The big control measures he points out include:

MS can't discount Windows for PC makers, or for companies who bundle MS products with their products

MS must let other companies see Windows' internal code specifications

MS must notify other companies when Windows changes slow down their programs

MS must allow all lawyers on the case open access to its premises and employees to ask questions, copy documents, read e-mail, etc.

The DOJ would like to see these restrictions take place 30 days after Judge T.P. Jackson approves the remedies (if he does), and they would be in effect for three years.

For more of Declan's coverage and some reactions, see this article at Wired.

SAM'S OPINION
Yikes. I've seen some coverage of the DOJ's proposal that claim the government knows it probably won't get its proposals adopted in court, but that the break-up and these measures are a negotiating tactic. After reading the proposal, I don't think that's true. I think the government is very mad at Microsoft (more for having beaten the DOJ's previous attempt to muzzle it than for abuse of consumers) and is going for the throat. If you get a chance to read the proposal (it's comparatively short–16 light pages of reading in PDF format) I think you'll agree.

It does seem to me that these measure are pretty harsh, but I also understand where the DOJ is coming from. Everyone knows that Microsoft is going to fight this proposal and whatever Judge Jackson decides as hard as it can, and the DOJ must therefore get some corrective measures in place while the case is argued back and forth (for who knows how many years). The government also feels that Microsoft violated the settlement agreement it made in the last anti-trust case against it and wants to make sure the same thing doesn't happen again. What do you do to someone you can't trust? Punish them severely.

However, I do think the DOJ isn't really examining what these measures and a break-up will do to PC computing and to consumers. This kind of penalization will severely impede the progress Microsoft can make with Windows; that might be good for Windows' competitors, but it will put Windows users (both at home and at work) at a disadvantage.

Think it's hard getting answers to your Windows questions now? Imagine what a nightmare it will be if you're having a problem with Windows and you don't know why. It turns out the problem is with the way Windows deals with a certain Microsoft Word macro. The Windows people have to figure that out, contact the Word people in the other company, see if those people agree, work out a possible solution, test that solution, make sure the solution doesn't impact people who use the Opera browser, notify the Opera people if there is some effect, and then distribute the fix … all while government lawyers are checking e-mails and interviewing the MFC programmers. Ugh.

Microsoft has a few days to counter these proposals, and it will be interesting to see if its lawyers can come up with a proposal that will satisfy the DOJ and the states, which are obviously out for blood.